Downton Abbey

[Deleted]

There seems to be no other plot than the Downton folks stressing over a party with Royals, but I'll still be there on opening day. I don't know why this couldn't be just another Christmas special but I guess they know that enough people will watch in cinemas :-)

[tabby]

As one of my friends on Facebook said, this movie looks like it's just an opportunity to check in the with characters. I'm totally down with that.

I may have bounced in my chair when I first saw the trailer.

[Deleted]

May 23, 2019 4:47:51 GMT -4 @solly79 said:

There seems to be no other plot than the Downton folks stressing over a party with Royals, but I'll still be there on opening day. I don't know why this couldn't be just another Christmas special but I guess they know that enough people will watch in cinemas :-)

Yep, a party with the Royals, and continued angst over "we might lose our insanely stately home that we can't really afford because no one lives like this anymore." Which we covered already. For like, three seasons. I don't think there are any grand plot points to be covered here, this is a fan service film.

Still gonna see it. It looks like harmless costume drama fun, which is my version of a summer popcorn flick. And September is still technically summer.

[ladytrentham]

To me, the Dowager Countess is a superhero, and I squealed like a proper fangirl.

HOWEVER:
This looks a lot like the old Upstairs, Downstairs episode when the King came to dinner. I will withhold judgement, but if it turns out that a baby is being born upstairs, I will have something to say. </Dowager Glare>

[kostgard]

New posters for the film.

Nothing too exciting, but Mary's blue gown in the first poster is gorgeous. Matthew Goode is also very easy to look at. Edith's husband reminds me of Niles Crane. Thomas is graying a bit at the temples and it suits him.

Tom and Lorenzo also have their list of essential episodes.

[kostgard]

I saw the Downton Abbey movie, which was entertaining enough. I’d rate it a matinee, not worth evening show price (I had a gift card, so...winning!). Like a well done Christmas special. Everyone gets a little bit to do, but not much.

My semi-spoilery thoughts:

If anyone plans to go to get their Matthew Goode fix, don’t bother. He’s barely in it. I mean, almost like he just drove past the set one day and waved as he went by (and speaking of driving, I’m still amazed Mary married someone who drives the way he does after what happened to Matthew. When he did drive by the set I genuinely worried he was going to crash into Carson and Hughes).

Speaking of Carson, remember how he retired because of his health? Yeah...don’t worry about that. The movie isn’t.

They pull a dick move on Thomas, and his reaction is wonderfully bitchy. But he mostly has a good time here. His haircut is terrible.

Neither of the Bateses get arrested for murder, much to my disappointment. But they do engage in criminal activity.

Violet tacitly admits Robert is a ding-dong.

Edith has rich white lady problems, but her husband is still a dear.

Mary has a blue dress I covet. Edith has a tiara/headband thing I covet.

Violet and Isobel have the best lines.

Moseley got the biggest laughs.

I think I was the only one in my theater under the age of 50. But it turns out old bats (a club I will join sooner rather than later) enjoy commenting on the action, laugh heartily and like to go, “Ooooooooooooooh!” when someone is being a bitch about something, so it was an entertaining experience.

[mojogirl]

I saw it! Was in a group of five of which three were over 50, and I'm just a few months away, so kostgard's comment... checks out.

So nice to have two hours of pretty clothes, pretty houses, I really enjoyed it. I did think the machinations required to get Carson back center stage were dumb.

My favorite part though, was the audience reaction to Moseley's "incident".

[kostgard]

Sept 23, 2019 10:41:35 GMT -4 mojogirl said:

So nice to have two hours of pretty clothes, pretty houses, I really enjoyed it. I did think the machinations required to get Carson back center stage were dumb.

It was, which is why I appreciated that Thomas’s reaction was so bitchy (especially considering Carson really didn’t fair much better than him). But Thomas got the night off and it ultimately worked out for him, so fine.

And yes - Moseley’s “aria” got a big reaction in my theater too.

[laurenj]

This may be completely disruptive to ask, but I'm going to deliberately ignore the rest of this thread and ask if there was a general tipping point where this show became addictive? I've never seen it, but have heard so much about it, so I've tried to watch it, but could never get past the first episode.

If Mad Men and This is Us are any indication, I COULD get completely sucked in at some point, but it's always a struggle to get past the beginning. If I knew when it got really good, I think I could concentrate until that point and get to the good stuff...

[kostgard]

Sept 23, 2019 21:11:55 GMT -4 laurenj said:

This may be completely disruptive to ask, but I'm going to deliberately ignore the rest of this thread and ask if there was a general tipping point where this show became addictive? I've never seen it, but have heard so much about it, so I've tried to watch it, but could never get past the first episode.

If Mad Men and This is Us are any indication, I COULD get completely sucked in at some point, but it's always a struggle to get past the beginning. If I knew when it got really good, I think I could concentrate until that point and get to the good stuff...

It was pretty addictive for me from the start.

I mean, it’s a soap, really. It’s not as dark as Mad Men. I haven’t watched This Is Us, but I think it is less emotional than that show. It’s beautiful people in beautiful homes wearing beautiful period costumes and jewelry having problems. But things are also pretty funny a lot of the times. I do think Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess is worth the price of admission. If you liked a show like Golden Girls, you’ll love the two mature ladies in this show constantly zinging each other with clever one-liners. Sometimes the stories get super-stupid, but that’s part of the territory with a soap.

If you aren’t on board within the first three episodes of season one, you can probably stop. It will hook you by episode three if it is going to hook you at all.